Page 29 of The Do-Over

“Great. Looking forward to it.”

He sent Jenna a quick text to fill her in, then muted his phone before she blew it up with exploding-head emojis.

At the edge of the pond, the boys were already busy lacing up their skates. Zack’s curly blond head was bent over his skates; he’d already lost his hat. Just like his mom, he despised hats. Bean looked more like Billy when he was young, brown-haired and skinny. He had a magical grin that melted hearts wherever he went, but Billy wasn’t sure he could take credit for that.

They were both excellent skaters, although Bean wound up sprawled face first on the ice at least once per session. He was so used to it that he just laughed it off. To each other, Billy and Jenna joked that he was a natural-born hockey player who’d keep skating even if he crashed through the ice.

“No one on the ice until I test it,” Billy called to them.

“Dad!! It’s fine. It’s like two inches deep.” Zack yanked his shoelaces tight.

“I don’t care. It’s also cold and ice is sharp.”

“Just because Bean—”

“Enough.”

Bean made a face at his big brother, and honestly, Billy couldn’t blame him. Being accident-prone was already no fun; to have it pointed out by your older brother was adding insult to injury.

“Just hold your horses.” Billy sat on a log so he could lace up his own skates. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt, including our guest. Best behavior, remember?”

Zack snapped his mouth shut.

“Actually, I prefer business as usual.” Lacey sat on the log next to him and worked on loosening the laces of Jenna’s skates. “No need for best behavior around me.”

Zack blinked innocently. “Dad said he’d give us ice cream if we behaved ourselves. Are you going to give us something too?”

“Zack! Extorting the reporter will lead to loss of ice cream.”

“But if she gives us ice cream instead…”

“Zack.”

His oldest son shrugged and abandoned the subject. “Are you really a newspaper reporter?”

“I write for a magazine. But I got my start writing for newspapers.”

“Like, news and stuff? Do you know about climate change?”

Lacey glanced at Billy, who shrugged. “It’s a big worry for him. He reads everything he can get his hands on.”

“I actually wrote wedding announcements when I started out.”

“Oh.” Zack let out a sigh of disappointment. “That sounds really boring.”

“Sorry,” Billy mouthed to Lacey, who showed no reaction to the brutally honest opinion of a ten-year-old. “Who cares about dumb weddings?”

“Your parents had a wedding. I even looked it up. There was an announcement in the Lake Bittersweet Chronicle.”

“You had a wedding announcement?” Zack shifted his weight back and forth from one skate to the other. “What did it say?”

“I don’t even—”

“It said that they got married at the ballfield,” Lacey interrupted. “The bride—your mom—wore a sky-blue sheath dress with a halter top neckline and daisies instead of a veil.”

Jenna had worn her old prom dress, which she’d barely fit into because Zack was on the way. She’d refused to spend money on a new dress. She’d refused to let him spend money on a ring. Their only expense had been the reception afterwards. Barbecue at the firehouse, courtesy of his brothers.

His heart twisted at the memory. After the shock of getting pregnant had worn off, Jenna had rearranged her entire life. She’d been saving money for a trip to see the world, but had instead spent it on a house. Thomas had helped with that too.

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